0.18 Tuyle, v., & Watkins, s. (october 2011). preparing leaders to  (Page 4/6)

Gender of current superintendent.

The 2010 Illinois school board survey found 76% of the school board members served in districts with male superintendents; 24% of the school board members served in districts with female superintendents.

Age.

The 2010 Illinois survey revealed 75% of the board members are between the ages of 40 and 59 years of age. Disaggregating the data, board members were in the following age groups: 2% in 18-29 age group, 10% in the 30-39 age group, 48% in the 40-49 age group, 27% in the 50-59 age group, and 13% in the 60 years of age or older group.

Number of years of service.

The majority of board members (72%) had served their school districts seven years or less. Forty-three percent of the board members had 0-3 years of board experience. The percentage of board members with 4 to7 years of board experience equaled 29%. Board members with 8 to 11 years of board service amounted to 14%. Twelve years or more of board service represented 14% of the respondents.

Highest level of education.

Overall, 74% of current school board members had a four year degree or advanced graduate work. Twenty-two percent had some college or other post-secondary training. High school graduates amounted to 4% of the respondents.

School Community Type.

A majority of the 2010 survey respondents (53%) indicated their district served a rural and small town community. Twenty-three percent served a suburban district, eighteen percent served small cities, and five percent served large city school districts.

When the 2010 survey respondents are disaggregated by gender and by community type, the survey results reported in Table 1 indicate 80% of the females served on school boards in small cities and in rural and small towns.

School District Enrollment.

Fifty-two percent of the public school districts in Illinois have enrollments of 1000 students or less. Of the Illinois school board member respondents, 54.1% represented districts with enrollments of 1000 or fewer. Twenty-five percent represented districts with 1001 to 2499 students. Eighteen percent represented 2500 to 4999 students, and 7% represented districts of 5000 or more.

The 2010 school board member survey revealed male board members were more prevalent on school boards of districts with 1000 students or less, while female school board members were more prevalent on school boards in districts with 2500 students or more. Table 2 shows 53.6% representation of males on boards of districts with enrollments of less than 1,000 students and 46% representation of females on boards of districts with enrollments of less than 1,000. In districts with enrollments of 2,500 students or more, the percentage of women school board members (29.5%) exceeded the percentage of men on school boards (20%).